It has been an ongoing goal since the earliest of times when objects were first cast or projected from one desired location to another to continuously improve the characteristics of the motion imparted to such object by a human hand or a contrivance designed for such purposes. Hence, the prior art in the field of casting objects is replete with devices such as bows and arrows, catapults, mortars, firearms, guided missiles, and the like. Generally speaking, incremental increases in the degree of control over the linear, rotational, and vibrational motion of various objects have been made in a fairly continuous fashion.
One particularly interesting field of causing the motion of objects is in the American-born sport of baseball. As is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, baseball may be a recreational activity in which a human thrower ("pitcher") hurls a baseball (defined by regulations as being of a specific weight, diameter, and construction) towards another person ("batter") who holds a wooden, metal, or plastic stick or "bat" in readiness to strike the hurled ball with an impulsive force back in the direction of the pitcher. A successful contact with the baseball permits the batter to run the bases, as is well-known to nearly all US citizens of ordinary skill in observing sports events.
The number of differences in the physical and mental capabilities and characteristics of various individuals who act as pitchers by virtue of the natural variance inherent in a diverse population as currently exists is indeed large. A natural result of these statistical differences is that occasionally an individual having a particularly beneficial set of characteristics comes to act as a pitcher, and the motion qualities provided the baseball during a pitch by such an individual are especially favorable from the standpoint of making the pitches especially difficult for a typical batter to hit the ball. From the earliest times in the game of baseball, observers have studied the paths of balls thrown by the hand, arm, and body of the pitcher, and the interpretation of such observations are full of controversy. The physics of ball flight in general require that the ball thrown must leave the hand from an initial position with an initial velocity in an initial direction and a given spin rotation about a definable axis, and pass through space being acted upon by the presence of the air through which it travels, and the normal force of gravity. Alteration of one or more of these variables may be made or attempted by the pitcher from pitch to pitch, or, a pitcher may try to maintain the same characteristics for a series of pitches. Typically however, batters are highly desirous of increasing their chances of landing a successful hit against baseballs thrown by pitchers whose thrown balls are known to be difficult to hit.
It has long been an objective to attempt to duplicate subsets of these variables by mechanical means in order to give batting practice without tiring the arms of pitchers and the like. Thus the prior art has seen the development of a wide variety of types of contrivances for simulating the flight of a ball as thrown by the human hand, or projected by some other means, or the flight which results as the result of a collision involving impulsive forces, whether elastic or inelastic, as such collisions and the motion associated therewith are believed to be relatively well understood.
It has also been an objective to provide rapidly moving baseballs along the ground or in the air and combinations thereof, in order to provide a method for fielding practice to infield and outfield players. Thus, the number of uses for devices for pitching baseballs is quite varied, and such devices have been gaining in popularity since the first introduction of a reasonably practical device designed specifically for such purposes.
It is desirable in general for pitching machines to be able to pitch a ball spinning with the spin axis in the plane normal to the direction of travel and to spin about the direction of travel. It is also desirable for pitching machines to be able to make a change between these modes of spin, in addition to being able to place the axis of spin in all the possible orientations with respect to the direction of travel. It is also desirable for the direction of the flight of the ball to be well defined from pitch to pitch, being completely dissociated with any level of expertise of the operator who operates the machine or intrinsically related to the design thereof Further, it is desirable for a pitching machine to be readily adjusted when initially placing the machine into a service position. Further still, it is desirable to be able to predict the flight path of the ball when the pitches are changed, as by changing a single or plurality of variables.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,091,791 teaches a ball throwing machine having a flat, circular resilient disc with an off-center opening formed therein through which a ball to be thrown is forced at a predetermined velocity. By properly positioning the flat circular resilient disc, having the off-center opening formed therein, a thrown ball can be made to spin about any axis perpendicular to the ball trajectory. A tubular barrel is mounted adjacent to the resilient disc so that as a ball is forced from the throwing machine it is forced through the opening in the resilient disc and into and out of the barrel. The barrel, which is positionable, permits the ball ejected from the throwing machine to be accurately aimed in any desired direction. A firing chamber is located adjacent the resilient disc on the side opposite the barrel. Balls to be thrown are fed into the firing chamber by a ball feeder. When a ball to be fired is positioned in the firing chamber, the firing chamber to the rear of the ball is sealed and a compressed air charge of a predetermined pressure is introduced into the rear of the firing chamber rapidly forcing the ball through the opening in the resilient disc and out of the barrel. The pressure built up in the firing chamber before the ball is expelled through the resilient disc and the barrel determines the velocity of the thrown ball. Thus it can be seen that any type of curved ball, at any desired velocity, can be thrown from the disclosed ball throwing machine. An air reservoir chamber axially aligned with the firing chamber and the tubular barrel is disposed behind the firing chamber. A firing valve, having an open position allowing free communication between the air reservoir and the firing chamber and a closed position eliminating any communication therebetween, is disposed between the air reservoir and the firing chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,284 discloses a baseball-pitching machine wherein a baseball is delivered into the constricted space between, and thereby gripped frictionally by, to oppositely rotating wheels which throw the ball. A single DC shunt wound motor is used to drive the wheels in cooperation with one variable drive pulley and an assortment of guide pulleys. One wheel is driven at a constant speed by the motor while the speed of the second wheel is adjusted by means of a variable drive pulley. By thus changing the speed of one of the two oppositely rotating wheels, it is possible to impart a variety of spins to the thrown ball and thus simulate curve and slider balls thrown by a professional pitcher. The axis of the variable drive pulley is fixed and the position of the belt within the variable drive pulley is controlled indirectly by means of a belt tensioning pulley operated by a screw.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,442,823 describes a pitching machine and control system which will pitch any baseball pitch desired on command with all parameters of each pitch chosen before the pitch of the ball. The system measures and counteracts the effects of the prevailing weather upon the ball then delivers the ball to the chosen point in the target zone. The parameters of the pitch are: orientation of the seams of the ball with respect to the access of spin, orientation of the access of spin with respect to the direction of travel, location of the release point with respect to the center of the machine (including both height and width), velocity of the ball, magnitude of the spin of the ball, and initial direction of the ball. The target parameters which are also selected before pitch are the target location with respect to the release point of the ball. Internal settings of the machine are adjusted to satisfy the pitch, and target parameters and the prevailing weather. Pitch and target parameters can be stored and played back to control the system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,208 relates to a ball pitching machine having a ball feed means for feeding balls to a feeding point where they will be acted upon by rotating drive wheels, a plurality of at least two drive wheels having planes and axes of rotation, said axes of rotation being perpendicular to said planes, said wheels being disposed about said feeding point so as to simultaneously act on a fed ball imparting to the fed ball spin and a forward velocity and trajectory, outwardly away from the feeding point in a direction initially perpendicular to the axes of rotation and in the plane of the wheels. The rotating means is constructed for rotating each drive wheel independent of other drive wheels at a plurality of pre-selected rotational speeds thereby effecting a type of pitched ball having a predetermined trajectory. A tilting means is provided for altering the trajectory, upwardly or downwardly, in a vertical plane, coplanar with the plane of the drive wheels. A panning means is provided for altering the trajectory of the ball in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the drive wheels. A speed measuring means is provided for determining the speed of the moving ball, and a computer means for inputting at least one set of variables that determine the trajectory based on the speed of the ball and at least one set of variables for effecting the spin applied to the ball by the drive wheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,621 discloses a portable ball pitching machine for projecting a ball uses a combusting gas to drive a piston which compresses air behind a ball and propels the ball through a barrel. A combustible mixture of air and propane are introduced into a combustion chamber, and a ball is loaded against an air exit of a barrel housing. The gas is ignited in the combustion chamber, and the explosion drives a piston through a compression chamber and generates compressed air. The compressed air is directed through the barrel housing to the air exit and the ball, and the ball is propelled from the barrel. The azimuth and elevation position of the barrel are adjustable. The velocity of a projected ball is adjustable by adjusting a regulator which vents to the atmosphere a portion of the compressed air that would otherwise be directed against the ball.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,909 teaches a ball pitching machine which uniquely embodies a single, specially configured ball engaging wheel which is rotatably mounted within a wheel housing that, along with a ball receiving barrel, is easily rotatable through an angle of 270 degrees. With this novel construction, the device can be used to accurately pitch a variety of fast balls, curve balls and sliders. The ball engaging wheel of the pitching head is of a novel vaned construction so that as the wheel is rotated within its housing a negative pressure will be generated within the housing and within the ball receiving barrel which is associated therewith so that the ball will be sucked into the barrel and into positive driving engagement with the periphery of the rotating wheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,161 shows a ball pitching machine having an integral pitching barrel and motor mount and three spaced drive wheels partially projecting into the barrel to grip and propel a ball placed in one end of the pitching barrel. The barrel has three longitudinally aligned slots or windows in the surface of the barrel to provide clearance for secant portions of each of the three wheels. The planes formed by each drive wheel extend radially from the longitudinal axis of the barrel. Each radial plane is equally spaced from each other at 120 degrees relative to each other. Each domed drive wheel is rotatably mounted on the end of a rotatable drive shaft of an electric motor. The three electric motors are mounted on the integral pitching barrel and mount by C-shaped clamps. The barrel is supported by a wheel mounted frame, a pair of U-shaped brackets secured to the frame in an opposed facing relationship, a front support ring for rotatably securing the ejection end of said ball pitching device, and a rear support ring for rotatably securing the feed end of the ball pitching device. The front support ring and the rear support ring are mounted in a spaced apart relationship between the opposed facing U-shaped brackets to form a generally open rectangular-shaped support member for rotatably mounting and adjusting the vertical angle of the ball pitching machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,445 discloses a baseball pitching machine that employs a counterrotating wheel type baseball launch subsystem that pitches a series of baseballs, and a computer controlled system for selecting the type and percentage of pitches, pitcher and batter characteristics, strike zone areas and other parameters to provide a meaningful batting training session. The pitching machine includes a ball transport subsystem including a carousel for receiving and transporting baseballs in sequence to a position adjacent the counter rotating wheels. While being transported, each baseball stops at seam orienting stations where seam rotators rotate the baseball to provide a commanded seam orientation for the particular pitch selected. The baseball is oriented by the ball orienter for insertion in the launch subsystem. A computer allows the selection by the operator of a variety of pitches, random or selected order. The computer has memory capability for storing pitches corresponding to any pitcher's typical pitch pattern and the system includes video, audio and data recording to record each batting session. An alignment system is included utilizing a laser light source. A remote control is also provided for the batter or his coach. A manual baseball inserter is disclosed for use with other pitching machines.
From a glimpse of these and other similar devices in the prior art, it can be seen that no prior art machine provides all of the following desirable features in a single device: a) having axes of rotation about the point at which the ball exits the device when delivering a pitch; b) capability to pitch any curve with varying spin; c) capability to simulate right-hand, left-hand, sidearm, overhead, or underarm delivery; d) capability to vary the altitude angle of the trajectory of the ball for simulating batted balls to infield or outfield practice, as well as pitched balls to the batter; and capability to vary the azimuth angle to compensate for the spin and curve; e) capability to be compacted for storage; capable of being readily maneuvered; f) capability to cast a ball to simulate any type of flight of a ball, including but not being limited to thrown balls, batted balls and struck tennis balls; g) a means for conveying visual information before a pitch and for conveying pitch statistics to the batter after a pitch has been delivered; h) capability of consistent pitch timing without the use of complex mechanisms; and i) capable of being controlled by conventional controller hardware and software, in which pitch characteristics may be stored, and from where a single pitch, a series of pitches, or a combination thereof may provided.
It is an object of this invention to provide a device having the foregoing capabilities and qualities, and to be able to change any one or more of the variables between each and every pitch rapidly in a very short interval of time; to predict and control the flight of the ball and its point of impact at a target any practical distance away; and effect a vertical or horizontal traverse of the ball at any height above or below the height of the machine, the flights not being limited to curves in a vertical or horizontal plane.
It is a further object of the invention to provide all of the aforesaid features and to simulate to a batter, catcher, fielder, or other person or player by modeling the complete character of the ball in flight as if it were pitched by the human hand, so as to provide an opportunity to bat, catch, observe, train, or exercise in the absence of a person designated to pitch such balls, and to provide a feedback of the information about the pitch to those interested. These and other objects of this invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention.